Slack Tide
by Melizzy511
Summary: Continuation of the Drift universe. Previous stories you should read before reading this one are Drift and Buoy. This traces the time line from when Alex Cabot came back to SVU and the episodes thereafter. It's about the ups and downs, in's and out's of a relationship. Again, if you were under the age of 18 when Alex Cabot was first on SVU, you may want to skip my fics.
1. Chapter 1

**This is part of the Drift universe and will be followed by High Tide. You really should read Drift and Buoy before reading this.**

**Slack Tide: a short period in a body of tidal water either side of high tide or low tide essentially when the water is completely unstressed  
**

Alex sighed as Olivia hung-up the phone and shot her an apologetic look. They were just about to make love when the brunette's cell phone rang. Given the time of night, Alex knew it was a work call and that there would be no love making that night.

"I'm sorry Alex…."

The blond shook her head and smiled. "It's ok baby. These last couple of weeks have been fairly calm." She shrugged. "We knew it couldn't last forever."

Olivia raised an eyebrow. "You call a child molesting advocate calm?"

"Calmer than normal."

Olivia leaned in and kissed her before standing to get dressed. Alex lay in bed and watched her lover and smiled at thoughts of Olivia's toned body moving against her.

Olivia, who had her back to Alex smiled. "If you keep looking at me like that, I'll never make the crime scene."

"How do you know I'm staring at you?"

Olivia laughed and turned to face her. "My ass cheeks are getting warm!"

Alex got out of bed and gave Olivia a hug and kiss.

"I love you. Be careful and call me when my services are needed. For work."

Olivia chuckled. "You know me so well." She returned the kiss. "I will. Go back to sleep."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Elliot looked her over and smirked. "I see I interrupted. Again."

She shot an evil glare at him and ignored the comment.

"What have we got?"

"Two DB's in a padlocked truck, nude, slashed and not a single trace of DNA that we can find."

Thinking about Alex at home, alone in their bed she grumbled, "That's encouraging."

Elliot hid a smile and took the lead. As the sun was coming up, they headed back to the station. Olivia had called Alex as they drove in and told her what they were looking at. After a whispered, "I love you," she hung-up and looked straight ahead.

"I heard that you know."

"Bite me."

"Does Alex?" He waggled his eyebrows.

She punched his arm and was glad they were pulling into the garage.


	2. Chapter 2

Olivia and Elliot were knee deep in their preliminary investigation when Olivia heard a familiar voice. Turning, she saw the face of agent Dean Porter. To say she was caught off guard was an understatement. As she took in the brooding good looks of her former handler, she felt a flutter in her stomach. She'd always been attracted to him, but content to keep it on a professional basis.

She was confused by her body's reaction to this man given her current state of happiness with Alex. At the thought of her girlfriend, she immediately felt guilty, but that was soon replaced by the need to speak to the retreating agent.

She hastily excused herself and rushed after the agent. As they exchanged a few words, Elliot appeared out of nowhere and made a snide comment about everybody having Porter's number. He'd seen Olivia's reaction to the fibbie and knew it was a very bad sign.

Shocked by her partner's attitude she was even more surprised when he took her by the arm and drug her into an interrogation room.

"Elliot!"

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What are you talking about?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I've seen that look before Olivia. You used to get it whenever you were around Marshall Andy, and around Alex. You know Alex, right? Your girl friend? The woman you live with?"

Olivia flushed with anger. "Of course I remember Alex! How can you say such a thing to me Elliot?"

"I've been your partner for over 10 years Olivia. I know you and I know how hell bent you can be about things."

"You're wrong Elliot!"

She turned and stormed out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXX

Alex jumped as her office door was thrown open, revealing her girlfriend. She opened her mouth to say something, but didn't have the chance as in one smooth motion Olivia had shut and locked the door and had Alex pushed against the wall. She claimed the blonde's mouth.

Alex moved away from Olivia's mouth and looked at her lover.

"Liv, what's going on?"

Olivia pulled back and stroked Alex's face. "I love you."

Alex smiled. "I love you too, but that still doesn't explain why you've rushed in here and assaulted my mouth. Not that I mind, but you seem…frenzied."

Olivia backed up a step and feeling embarrassed, she shrugged her shoulder.

"I…I just needed to tell you that."

Alex closed the difference between them and gently kissed Olivia.

"Duly noted detective." She brushed a lock of Olivia's hair from her face. "Will you be home for dinner?"

"I'm not sure. There have been some developments on this case. I'll call."

"Ok." She grabbed Olivia's hand as she turned to leave. "Be careful."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The ride to the airport was uncomfortably quiet with neither partner looking at the other. Olivia was lost in thought, trying to figure out why she was feeling like she was. Her trip to Alex's office had little impact on her.

She was distracted as they entered the airport and didn't notice that the suspect had made her as a cop until it was too late. As she was being led through the airport, gun nestled against her ribs, her first thought was of Alex.

As she was being held during the standoff, her thoughts flitted from Alex to Elliott to Simon and as the shot rang out and her captor slumped to the ground, her immediate thought was of Dean Porter and how he'd just saved her life.

When he'd offered her a ride back to the station she accepted without hesitation and glared at Elliot as he glared at Porter. They'd made small talk before lapsing into a comfortable silence.

As they were about to pull into the garage, Olivia's phone vibrated. She saw that it was Alex calling and hit the ignore button.

"Not going to take that?"

She smiled at Porter. "It can wait."

He stopped the car, but left the engine running.

"I have to go file paperwork. Killing a suspect creates a lot of work."

Olivia smiled, thanked him for the ride and got out of the car. She was just getting out of the elevator when her phone rang again.

"Where are you?"

"Hello to you too Alex. I just…."

Before she could finish her sentence, the blonde came barreling out of the bullpen and grabbed her. She hugged Olivia tightly and then pulled back, tempted to kiss her. While the squad all knew they were together, they had never shown overt affection for each other during work hours.

"My assistant told me what happened and then I tried to call you and you didn't answer. I was afraid…." Her voice trailed off, the implication understood.

Olivia felt like a heel as she remembered hitting the ignore button on the phone and not thinking about how it might effect Alex.

"Sweetie, I'm sorry. I caught a ride back with Agent Porter and we were busy discussing the case." It was kind of true.

"Agent Porter? Dean Porter with the FBI who was your handler while you were undercover?"

"Uh, yes. How do you know all of that?"

Alex colored ever so slightly. "I…kept up with you and the squad. Is he the agent that killed the man who had you?" Olivia nodded. Alex smiled. "Then I should send him a thank you note."

Before she could talk herself out of it, Alex engulfed Olivia in a hug and held on for dear life.

Over Alex's shoulder, Olivia caught Elliot watching them, hands on his hips, a stern look on his face. Their eyes met and Olivia was the first to look away.


	3. Chapter 3

Olivia delayed going home as long as she could, hoping to find Alex asleep. She did find the apartment dark and eased through the living room and down the hall to their room. She got ready for bed in the bathroom and then eased between the sheets. She was surprised when Alex began rubbing her belly and kissing her jaw line.

"I thought you were asleep."

"Nope. After today's events I wanted to make sure you got home safely."

"Events?"

Alex chuckled. "Being held at gun point?"

"Oh. That. It's just part of the job Alex."

Alex leaned over and kissed her. "You've had almost 20 years to get used to things like this Olivia, I've only had 7 months. The possibility that the person I love could end the day in the morgue is new for me."

Feeling guilty, Olivia turned onto her side, facing Alex.

"I'm sorry Alex, I didn't think about that. Thank you for caring."

The blonde leaned in and kissed her lover and eased her onto her back. She moved atop Olivia and was sliding her hand down into the brunette's panties when Olivia stopped her.

"Sweetie, I'm drained…."

"Shhh. Let me do this for you."

Alex began exploring Olivia and soon had her writhing beneath her tongue. She could tell her lover was close and stiffened her tongue even more, catching her clit at just the right angle.

Olivia's body exploded as an image of Dean Porter's face flashed behind her closed eyes, causing them to fly open as realization dawned on her. She moved away from Alex, both frightened and ashamed by what had just happened.

Alex looked at her with concern and tilted her head asking the unspoken question.

"Come here Alex, please!"

Alex did as asked. Olivia turned on her side and pulled Alex's arm around her, tightly.

"Hold me. Please."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alex had fallen asleep almost instantly, but Olivia hadn't slept much at all. She laid awake all night thinking about what had happened. She felt guilty and confused and as soon as the sun came up, she eased out of Alex's embrace and went to shower.

Alex was still sleeping as she got ready to leave and she took a moment to stare at her lover. The blonde was breathtakingly beautiful asleep. Her hair was fanned out on the pillow, her cheeks were rosy and she had a faint smile on her face.

Olivia swore under her breath and hurried from the apartment.

XXXXXXXXXXX

They had just finished interviewing Terri Barnes and were on the way back to the station when Olivia blurted out, "I cheated on Alex."

Elliot swerved to avoid hitting a car and looked at his partner.

"What?"

"Last night."

He hit the steering wheel and began looking for a place to pull over. He found an open spot and pulled the sedan in.

"I knew I shouldn't have left you alone last night! What did you do, fuck him in the crib?"

"No! I didn't screw him Elliot!"

"What?"

Olivia took a deep breath, looked out the window and then down at her hands.

"I didn't physically cheat Elliot. I…we were…you know, last night and at an inopportune moment my mind went to Dean."

Elliot sighed. "Thank God." He looked at Olivia. "You didn't share this with Alex, did you?"

"No. I was too ashamed." She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I love her Elliot and I don't know why I'm behaving this way."

He softened at her obvious distress.

"Listen…this case will be over soon, Porter will go back to whatever rock he crawled out from under and everything will be normal again." He took her hand. "But Liv, under no circumstances should you tell Alex about this. It will only hurt her and you've not actually cheated."

Olivia looked doubtful. "I subscribe to the Jimmy Carter theory Elliot."

Truth be told, so did Elliot, but he wasn't about to let his partner wreck the best thing to happen to her in a long time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After realizing they'd been duped by Porter, Elliot and Olivia were trying to figure out how they could prove Porter's involvement.

"I got it! Porter doesn't know about Alex and me and thinks I still live at the same place. We'll get Kathleen out of the apartment, I'll invite him over, let him think he's going to get lucky, fake a call from Cragen and see what happens."

Elliot nodded. "Could work. Maybe TERU has some sort of gadget or bug or something."

She turned to go see Cragen when Elliot stopped her. "Are you sure you're ok with this?"

She rolled her eyes. "You'll be there, in my bedroom Elliot. It's not like I'm actually going to sleep with him!"

He finally nodded and they went in search of Cragen.

XXXXXXXXXX

After getting the ok and setting the plan in motion, Olivia called Alex to give her a head's up.

"So I'll sort of be undercover, ok?"

"Ok."

"Alex, you do understand that I might have to kiss Porter, right?"

Alex chuckled. "Yes Olivia, I do."

"And you are ok with that?"

On the other end of the line Alex raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Yes. Is there a reason I shouldn't be? I trust you Olivia and this is for work. Nothing more."

Olivia sighed in relief. "Thank you Alex. I just wanted you to know what was going on."

"Be careful and I love you."

XXXXXXXXXX

Alex had arrived back at the apartment just as Olivia was leaving for her dinner date with Porter. She thought Olivia looked stunning and told her so, sealing it with a kiss.

Olivia tried to push thoughts of Alex away as she waited on Porter to arrive. Elliot and Morales were set up in her old bedroom. She had put a pot of water on the stove to give the illusion of cooking.

When Porter finally arrived they made small talk until she sat down next to him on the couch. She allowed him to lean in and kiss her and soon they were making out. She was surprised that she was enjoying it and mortified when she felt herself get wet.

She was silently praying for Cragen to call her asap and got her wish. She made her apologies and saw Porter to the door. While Elliot and Morales were busy tracing Porter's call, Olivia hurried into the bathroom and changed back into work clothes. She had to use a tissue to clean herself and wished she had another pair of panties to put on.

By the time she left the bathroom, they were ready to go and hurried to the address the phone call had come from. Everything went quickly after that and soon they were back at the station interrogating Terri Barnes.

Just as they were about to go hard at her, Cragen interrupted them and ordered them to turn her lose. Before Elliot and Olivia could protest, Agent Porter stepped into the room and took custody of Terri Barnes.

Olivia immediately felt betrayed by Porter and was surprised at how hurt she felt. Elliot seemed to sense this and gave her a moment alone with the agent.

"Why didn't you tell me? Trust me?"

"Our feelings don't matter Olivia."

She watched as he turned and walked out of the station. She retreated within herself and started in on the necessary paperwork. It was well after midnight by the time she got home. She crawled into bed without going through her nightly routine and was glad Alex had awoken, but surprised when the blonde sought her out in sleep and snuggled into her.

XXXXXXXXX

2 weeks later

Alex was waiting on Olivia when she got home that night, well past midnight for the 6th night. They had not been intimate since before the Barnes case and all attempts by Alex had been rebuffed by Olivia. The blonde had thought her lover was suffering some PTSD from being held at gun point and she was about to suggest she get some help.

Olivia took a deep breath before entering the apartment. She wasn't surprised to find Alex waiting on her. In fact she was relieved. She needed to confess to Alex what had happened with Porter and her confusion.

"We need to talk."

"We need to talk."

They both laughed at saying the same thing at the same time.

Olivia motioned for Alex to go first.

"Liv, I want you to see somebody about what happened in the Barnes case."

Olivia's head shot up. "How do you know what happened? Have you been talking to Elliot?"

"What? I'm talking about you being held at gun point and us not being intimate since that happened. What are you talking about?"

Olivia closed her eyes and motioned for Alex to sit down. After assuring the blonde she loved her, she confessed everything she'd been feeling since Porter's return to her life, and how she felt like she'd cheated.

Alex listened calmly before standing. She took a deep breath.

"While I am not happy that at the moment of release you thought of Dean Porter or that kissing him got you all wet, I don't consider it cheating. It is however a symptom of perhaps some bigger issue." She looked down at Olivia with a sad smile. "And this issue will not be solved tonight. We both need sleep." She held her hand out to the brunette who took it and rose to meet Alex.

They walked down the hall with Alex stopping in front of the second bedroom.

"I love you Olivia and we'll figure all of this out, but I can't sleep next to you right now. Please sleep in here until further notice."

Olivia nodded and started to lean in to kiss Alex, who backed away. She again nodded and slipped into the bedroom.

**A/N: Hate to do this to you, but I will be out of town this week at an event where that chump Dick Wolf will be attending. I'm tempted to kick his shins, but I will refrain. I think. At any rate, it will be a few days before I post the next part of the series, High Tide.**


End file.
